Saturday, September 27, 2008

There was a rich family that lived in a large house in a small village. The rich family threw a party and invited the rest of the town. At this party, a few wealthy guests were given champagne and caviar, and the rest of the guests got cocktail franks and warm beer.

Later that evening, after most of the guests had left, some of the wealthiest guests joined the rich family in a drunken game of naked twister. Someone slipped on a cocktail frank that one of the poorer guests had dropped, and knocked over a candle. Soon the large house was engulfed in flames.

The rich, drunk, and naked guests ran out on to the street, and screamed for the gathering crowd to help them put out the fire. But the mob, still angry they were only fed cocktail franks and warm beer, shouted back that the wealthy family should put out the fire themselves since they started it. Water was in very short supply, and the wealthy family insisted that they needed some from every well in the town.

The townspeople argued that the family had the deepest well in town, and should have plenty to put out the fire. The rich family said the well was dry because they'd just had their servants wash their many cars. This angered the mob even more.

As they argued, the fire spread, and the entire town burned to the ground.

What do you think?

Like most of the politicians, I am clueless.

When there is a fire nearby, put it out, and then argue about what happened.

23 comments:

Fast food bailout
said...

Better make sure you've got good fire insurance! A new beginning might just be what this young, and out of control country needs! It certainly needs changes that neither candidate hasn't, or won't suggest, and one of the reasons is that they both enjoy "profits" which only wars can supply.

Our asses are cooked, no matter the recipe; while Wall Street licks their lips and their wounds, and never misses a meal.

"...in case you actually believed Washington's Princess Leah message of desperation - that the $700 billion bailout is our only hope - think again. There are plenty of other ways to address this challenge.

The problem, of course, is that this isn't about the American economy. It's about disaster capitalism and enriching the people who engineered this crisis to begin with. Bush (ie. Mr. 19 Percent) is the Obi-Wan Kenobi of the shock doctrine, both parties in Congress who are helping him push this bailout are akin to Darth Vader - and the circle is now complete. When those legislators capitulated to him on the Patriot Act and the Iraq War back in the post-9/11 fearmongering days, they were but the learner. Now, sadly, they are the master." David Sirota, political journalist

Don't forget there were lots of townspeople who wanted to live like the rich and found a way to get their own champagne and caviar even though they couldn't afford them. Some of them were able to sneak in with the rich and find a way to prosper themselves, but most after indulging in the feast found that even though they have become accustomd to that lifestyle they could no longer keep up the charade and went back to their old ways.

Agreed. Many people bought houses knowing that the only way they could afford it, was if it's value doubled. If it worked out, great. If it didn't so what, that was the banks problem. This was made worse by the parasites that worked for these banks, that used this casino mentality to get people these loans. Unfortunately, veryone was drinking the koolaid.

they want the 700 billion so they can keep on doing just what they've been doing without restriction or oversight And it is the same people who created the snafu with their "complex mathematical models that mere mortals like you can't understand" (read that fairy money) who want more money to "fix" everything. Paulson and all the rest of 'em should be in JAIL, not in any position trying to fix the economy. When the bull busts up your china shop you don't hire the same bull to fix it do you? I don't trust them, this is the Bush administration, people... they have lied before and they're sure as hell lying now.

The citizens should have used Augustus' strategy. Augustus was one of the most powerful people in Rome, and one of the ways that he gained all his wealth was with a fire-fighting unit. This was a private fire-fighting unit though, and the way he made it work was by heading to the site of a fire and offer to buy the houses that were on fire and the ones in risk of the fire being spread to from the owners at a very low cost. Only if they sold their land would Augustus put out the fire, and then turn around to sell at a large profit.

The government is actually approaching this disaster in a way similar to the way Augustus did. The government will (hopefully) offer to buy sub-prime mortgages off of banks at far less than their stated value. The banks will hopefully end up not failing. If the plan goes well, the government will be in possession of mortgages that regain value as the economy stabilizes and will be able to resell them at a profit.

Let the banks and fat cats eat the bad loans they created. Sure our deposits will suffer initially but when they do and the FDIC has to step in, then we can bail out the FDIC rather than the fat cat Wall Street bankers that created the mess and now tell us the earth will stop spinning if we don't give them $700B. Then when people's deposits are replaced by the FDIC, there will be ample funds to lend and the bad banks and bankers won't get rewarded one again. And we all lived happy ever after. The End

This is completly off-topic:I just recently discovered your blog and I think its's great! I live in Hungary and I'm a bit of a gourmet, love to eat, and love fine dining. I like to fool around in the kitchen as well, but I've always had some problem with roasting meat. It never turned out the way I expected it. The first videoblog I saw from you convinced me right away, that first of all you really know what you are talking about, second of all you really like to eat and third of all you have a way off enlightening amateur cooks such as I. I have tried to make the tenderloin with balsamic glazed peaches and it came out just excellent. Thank you! Big fan from now on!Henrik from Hungary

The aftermath: the mob then eviscerated the wealthy drunken naked fools, tossed them into the fire for disposal and divided the land equally among themselves. They went to a common sense bartering system becoming self-sustaining, and eliminated the class/cast system, and began to rebuild as group working together with each person able to contribute their skills and teach others and depend on each other as a community for survival. Then a unicorn appeared... :-)

You forgot the part about where both parties were chanting that they have the greatest small town in the world. (When the truth is that everything that it is, is because of the work of town's people grandparents... truly the greatest generation)...

My mother always has tomatoes just slowly intensifying either over the stove or in the oven, but not for 12 hours! Maybe 4 or 5, so that it's still bursting with a bit of juice. She always uses an iron skillet though (something about women needing iron). The result is a container of roasted cherry tomatoes that we either pop just for some flavor, or we add it to spaghetti for more intensity, I’ve heated some up and had it with eggs (chef john style) and toast. It almost becomes a spice too, adding it to green beans, intensifies a quick veggie side. I think I’ve mixed it with sautéed mushrooms, mmm.